When I applied to college, one of the questions on the common application was, “What is something you are good at doing?” In truth, I struggled with this question more than any other on the whole packet. “Good” is such a relative term. What I consider good for myself may be another’s excellent or another’s poor. However, I realized that it did not matter if someone else thought that I was good at a particular thing as long as I myself thought I was good at it. With this type of question, as I am sure it is designed to do, one has to appraise himself or herself with a keen eye in order to answer honestly. So, with that thought in mind, I sat down and wrote my response on my application.
I explained in the response that I am good at listening. An odd skill to choose, perhaps, given all that I do with my time. However, after evaluating myself, I found that it is the most accurate. I think this talent or expertise, if you will, was developed due to my birth order. As the third child of four, I learned from my older siblings by observing them and the things they did. Of course, I eventually did the things they did, such as sports and the like, for myself. Until then, however, I watched, listened and learned as a result. In time, it developed into a skill and then into a talent.
Selfishly, I thought only to use my talent for myself; I would carefully listen in class, hardly speaking, and soak up knowledge as if I were a sponge. Thanks to this developed skill, my grades excelled while I was in lower school.
As I grew older, I realized that I could use my listening skills to benefit others as well as myself. Often, my friends would turn to me in moments of stress and confide in me. It did not necessarily matter to them whether I offered advice in return; mostly, they just needed to vent to someone who would actually listen to them. I became that person. And so it went on like this ever since those early formative years.
The spring of my junior year arrived and my best friend and I were elected field hockey captains for the coming fall season and we looked forward to preseason with unwavering excitement. When we arrived that first day, it did not take us long to realize that our team consisted mostly of freshmen with little to no experience. To add to that initial setback, most of our new girls had never been on a team before. This was especially difficult because they had yet to understand the level of cohesiveness needed in order for a team to succeed. Simply, we were not acting as a team or a whole. After a few grueling double sessions and practices, we were still hitting roadblocks as a team. I could see physical improvements almost daily but there was still something lacking. In time, I realized that my teammates needed a leader whose main focus was not just field hockey. While the physical aspect of the sport is, of course, integral to playing well, the emotional aspect is crucial, too. I found I was most useful to my team when I sincerely listened and responded appropriately to their concerns. Only when this happened did my team start working together as we needed to do. This lesson taught me that while I had developed a very useful skill, I needed to develop it further in order to create the best environment for those around me.
EDC – Personal Expertise Essay
When I applied to college, one of the questions on the common application was, “What is something you are good at doing?” In truth, I struggled with this question more than any other on the whole packet. “Good” is such a relative term. What I consider good for myself may be another’s excellent or another’s poor. However, I realized that it did not matter if someone else thought that I was good at a particular thing as long as I myself thought I was good at it. With this type of question, as I am sure it is designed to do, one has to appraise himself or herself with a keen eye in order to answer honestly. So, with that thought in mind, I sat down and wrote my response on my application.
I explained in the response that I am good at listening. An odd skill to choose, perhaps, given all that I do with my time. However, after evaluating myself, I found that it is the most accurate. I think this talent or expertise, if you will, was developed due to my birth order. As the third child of four, I learned from my older siblings by observing them and the things they did. Of course, I eventually did the things they did, such as sports and the like, for myself. Until then, however, I watched, listened and learned as a result. In time, it developed into a skill and then into a talent.
Selfishly, I thought only to use my talent for myself; I would carefully listen in class, hardly speaking, and soak up knowledge as if I were a sponge. Thanks to this developed skill, my grades excelled while I was in lower school.
As I grew older, I realized that I could use my listening skills to benefit others as well as myself. Often, my friends would turn to me in moments of stress and confide in me. It did not necessarily matter to them whether I offered advice in return; mostly, they just needed to vent to someone who would actually listen to them. I became that person. And so it went on like this ever since those early formative years.
The spring of my junior year arrived and my best friend and I were elected field hockey captains for the coming fall season and we looked forward to preseason with unwavering excitement. When we arrived that first day, it did not take us long to realize that our team consisted mostly of freshmen with little to no experience. To add to that initial setback, most of our new girls had never been on a team before. This was especially difficult because they had yet to understand the level of cohesiveness needed in order for a team to succeed. Simply, we were not acting as a team or a whole. After a few grueling double sessions and practices, we were still hitting roadblocks as a team. I could see physical improvements almost daily but there was still something lacking. In time, I realized that my teammates needed a leader whose main focus was not just field hockey. While the physical aspect of the sport is, of course, integral to playing well, the emotional aspect is crucial, too. I found I was most useful to my team when I sincerely listened and responded appropriately to their concerns. Only when this happened did my team start working together as we needed to do. This lesson taught me that while I had developed a very useful skill, I needed to develop it further in order to create the best environment for those around me.